FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 133 



or cheese, for heavy draft or carriage purposes, the production of veal or 

 mutton. 



To conform to a certain type it is not necessary for the animals to be 

 similarly bred. 



Not all animals of the same breed conform to the same type, as is seen 

 in the Shorthorn breed; we have seen fine-bred Shorthorns v^hich con- 

 form to the dairy type and pure-bred Shorthorns that conform to the 

 beef type. 



Several breeds may have individual animals belonging to the same 

 type. The term type is then a broader one than breed. We find the 

 majority of the animals of the Shorthorn, Galloway, Aberdeen Angus 

 and Hereford breeds belong to the beef type. We have, too, a very large 

 number of animals not belonging to any breed, that are cross-bred, 

 grades and scrub cattle that may belong to either the beef or dairy type. 



The most important thing is, that our steers conform to a certain beef 

 tj'pe, and not that they belong to a particular breed. 



It is as certainly true that all steers do not make profitable feeders 

 as it is to say that all cows are not profitable cows, even though they 

 are fed in the best possible manner. 



To be a profitable feeder a steer must not only have the proper form, 

 but also he must be a good feeder in the sense of being able to convert 

 a large part of the food consumed into flesh and fat. It is not always 

 the steer that makes the greatest gains in a given time, nor the one that 

 brings the highest price in the market, that is the most profitable feeder. 

 Generally speaking, however, it is true. The rapid growing, fiesh and 

 fat taking steer is, as a rule, the one that makes the most economical 

 gains. 



The steers, too, that bring above the average in price in the market 

 are generally the money makers, while those bringing below the average 

 are the ones that have been fed at a loss. 



The animals which bring above the average in price have certain 

 very noticeable characteristics. First, as we have already said, they 

 conform to the beef type. The beef type in short is a form which shows 

 to the buyer that the steer has laid on his flesh where it is most valuable 

 to the wholesale and retail dealers in meat. Second, the steer must be 

 well finished or fattened, that there will be a small amount of waste in 

 dressing and that the beef will be of good quality. 



Experience has proved to successful feeders that there is a close 

 relation between the breeding of a steer, provided it is an average speci- 

 men of the breed, and the price that that steer will bring in the best 

 markets. 



It is the exception rather than the rule when a steer, no matter how- 

 it has been fed, which has no particular breeding and is a mongrel or 

 scrub, will bring the highest price in the market. On the other hand, 

 by far the large majority of well-bred steers, that is steers that have 

 been graded up to high grades of some of the beef breeds, or it may be 

 cross-bred steers, being produced by a cross between two of the recog- 

 nized beef breeds, is not capable of being fed to reach very close to the 

 top of the market. 



A good lesson in this connection can be learned from the sales made 

 of fancy Christmas cattle for the past few years. The cattle which have 

 brought the fancy prices have been well bred cattle, either pure bred, 

 hish g-rades or cross-bred animals. 



